According to a trial published in the April edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, early cerebral MRI-identified lesions in patients with endocarditis but no neurologic symptoms can yield a change in the clinical management plan for the patient, and affect diagnostic classification.

Molecular diagnostics company Biocartis has acquired Netherlands Royal Philips Electronics’ technology platform for fully-automated DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic testing designed for applications in a wide range of patient sample testing, including oncology and infectious diseases.

The latest development in the standardization of information flow between radiologists and EHR systems was announced at the 94th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) by Health Level Seven (HL7) and the Health Story Project (previously known as the CDA for Common Document Types, CDA4CDT project).

CHICAGO—During the Annual Oration in Diagnostic Radiology and Gold Medal Awards presented Tuesday, keynote lecturer Elizabeth McFarland, MD, challenged attendees to “run the enduring race” in the effort to increase CT colonography utilization in the current restrictive reimbursement climate.

In a development that researchers say could quell concerns about the value of costly CT scans to diagnose coronary artery blockages, the results from the CorE-64 study were published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results confirm that 64-slice CT scans can correctly identify people with major blood vessel disease and that they are nearly as accurate as invasive coronary angiography. The initial findings from CorE-64 were presented at the 2007 annual American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions last November. The results released this week reflect the study’s updated data.

The use of EHRs may help reduce paid malpractice settlements for physicians, according to a study in the Nov. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which demonstrated a trend toward lower paid malpractice claims for physicians that are active users of EHR technology.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), which has contended that the proposed ICD-10-CM code set would be too costly for quick adoption, could gain increased support for its argument with a report from Nachimson Advisors that estimates the cost to small, medium and large practices.

Scientists from Finland, Germany and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have developed analyzer-based x-ray imaging, a new CT technique used for the early detection of breast cancer.